By Stephen Kalin
RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia's King Salman was admitted to a hospital in the country's capital for tests after suffering from gallbladder inflammation, reigniting speculation about succession plans for his young son and heir apparent.
The 84-year-old ruler entered a specialty hospital in Riyadh for medical checks due to cholecystitis, the Royal Court said Monday in a brief statement carried by the kingdom's state-controlled news agency.
King Salman's hospitalization prompted neighboring Iraq's new prime minister to delay a visit to the kingdom scheduled for Monday.
The monarch's health is closely monitored by observers as the U.S. ally presides over one of the world's top oil producers and Iran's main regional rival. He has been in power since 2015 but in recent years has delegated most day-to-day responsibilities to his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
King Salman's fragile condition compounds Saudi Arabia's precarious position as it confronts economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and volatile oil prices. The kingdom's economy, the largest in the Middle East, is expected to shrink by 6.8% this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Prince Mohammed has won plaudits for bold efforts to overhaul the kingdom's oil-dependent economy and ease strict social rules, but his bid to consolidate power by sidelining potential rivals and stamping out criticism has drawn sharp international censure.
The 34-year-old has skipped over hundreds of older uncles and cousins -- and had several of them arrested -- to become next in line for the throne, upending consensus-based politics and generating quiet opposition.
Analysts say those arrests were likely a pre-emptive move to manage risks to a transition from King Salman to his son. Prince Mohammed's decisions have often faced scrutiny by members of the ruling family.
Before becoming king, Salman was Riyadh governor for nearly 50 years and the royal family's chief disciplinarian. Salman's unassailable status as a son of the kingdom's founder and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, in Mecca and Medina, has helped shield Prince Mohammed from the fallout of unpopular moves as he shakes up the staid kingdom.
Neither the king nor the crown prince has appeared in public since the coronavirus pandemic took off in Saudi Arabia, leaving the health minister to be the public face of government efforts to combat the disease. More than 250,000 people in the kingdom have been sickened and some 2,500 have died from Covid-19.
The king appeared on television in mid-March in a prerecorded address about the virus, and U.S. officials said he appeared in good health when he met Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in late February. More than 100 members of the royal family, which comprises thousands of individuals, have contracted the coronavirus, including the current governor of Riyadh, people familiar with the matter have said. Prince Mohammed has been spending time at a palace in the remote northwest desert where he has promised to build a futuristic city-state called Neom.
There has been no indication that King Salman contracted the virus.
His admission to the hospital appears to be sudden as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi had been scheduled to make his first trip to Saudi Arabia Monday amid heightened U.S.-Iran tensions. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran one year into King Salman's reign but has sought improved relations with Iraq, where Iran's influence has flourished since the 2003 U.S. invasion.
The 91-year-old ruler of neighboring Kuwait, another U.S. ally and major oil producer, also entered a hospital over the weekend for medical checks and an unspecified surgery, following a stroke last year.
--Donna Abdulaziz in Jeddah contributed to this article.
Write to Stephen Kalin at stephen.kalin@wsj.com
